Highlights
- Pokemon Scarlet and Violet broke the tradition of random encounters in tall grass, but failed to provide an adequate way to scale levels, resulting in easy fights and challenges.
- The lack of level scaling in open-world games like Diablo 4 and Pokemon Scarlet and Violet detracts from the overall experience and takes away players' freedom of choice.
- In order to achieve true freedom in open-world games, a level scaling system should be implemented, allowing players to go wherever they want and face appropriate challenges based on their level.
Pokemon games have gone a long way when it comes to improving and even drastically changing the core formula of the franchise, with Pokemon Legends: Arceus and Pokemon Scarlet and Violet being prime examples of this for different reasons. One of the biggest outliers in terms of features for Gen 9 was the fact that it broke a massive Pokemon tradition with tall grass, as random encounters are entirely gone from the title and replaced with overworld spawns. Yet, Pokemon Sword and Shield first and Pokemon Scarlet and Violet later, as well as Diablo 4 more recently, all prove that Gen 10 games need to go one extra mile to make the open-world experience the best it can be.
Some of the best open-world games on the market rely on exploration and rewards attached to it as a means to keep players engaged for longer spans of time, and this works for games like Pokemon and Diablo as well - but that's not all there is to it. RPGs and titles adjacent to the genre often employ various customization features that range from leveling up and gaining new boons to featuring actual builds for players to choose from. In the case of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet and Diablo 4, these games fail to provide an adequate way to scale levels.
Why Pokemon Gen 10 Needs Level Scaling After Scarlet and Violet, Diablo 4
Diablo 4's level scaling issues started on launch, as some players were not happy with the open world completely scaling to the player character's level in any zone, with some going slightly above, as difficulty could go rampant. However, the current system in Season of the Malignant makes it so that players are constantly overleveled compared to any overworld areas and most activities by the time they reach level 50 to 60, which makes them irrelevant for the most part.
Likewise, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet came with no level scaling despite the feedback players provided with Pokemon Sword and Shield, and this often translates into extremely easy fights and challenges the minute players overlevel their critters compared to the area they're in. A big example of this comes from Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's Gym battles, where trainers can easily face some Gym Leaders much sooner or later than intended. This approach not only doesn't reward players for exploring, but it detracts something incredibly valuable from the overall experience by not acknowledging the players' freedom of choice.
This is a stark contrast with what Gen 9 theoretically wants to achieve, as for the first time in the series, players are completely free to go wherever they want in the world at any given time, with only a handful of locations being locked before finishing the story. Even Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's clothing options are reflective of this, as players are forced to wear their academy's uniform at all times. As such, a level scaling system in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet would have been a great addition because it would have meant true freedom - if players want to rush to Montenevera, for example, they should be able to do so without having to instantly face level 40+ critters.
At the same time, if players want to take it slow and enjoy their time in Paldea, they should be able to level up as much as they want before heading to Gyms or any of the other paths and still face a challenge against Pokemon of the same level or even higher. If anything, Gen 10 Pokemon games should at the very least make level scaling optional, so that players can choose whether they want the feature or not. It's too soon for Gen 10 titles at this stage, but with the recent uproars coming from the Diablo 4 community and Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's own when the games launched, it's as good a time as ever to highlight the problems of the lack of level scaling.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are available now for the Nintendo Switch.